The book is an interesting look at how a loosely organization coalition of folks all focused on the same goal can accomplish a significant achievement. It's also a great demonstration of how powerful distributed computing is, even on desktop machines. From a raw computing power perspective, some problems are easier to solve in a distributed architecture than on a supercomputer. Cracking the DES-encrypted message was just such a problem. This is why projects like SETI @ Home offer us hope to accomplish things that otherwise might be impossible in today's age.

The book is light on the technical side. For instance, Mr. Curtin points out that the DESCHALL clients used UDP, which was a far more efficient protocol for what they are trying to do than TCP. But rather than delve into the minutiae and spewing techno-speak, he gave a high level explanation as to what made UDP better than TCP for their implementation at a level where non-technical folks can go, "Okay, that makes sense," without technical folks going, "You oversimplified it to where it's wrong!" Therefore, this is a book that's accessible to non-techies as well. If you are interested in encryption, especially with all the goings-on in the late 90s (remember low and high encryption versions of IE and Netscape?), this book is a good one for that.

Comments

Posted by Chuck on 23 April 2007

Brian,

Why would anyone be seriously spending computing power on SETI@home?

Recent statistical analysis have shown that there is less than 1 chance in 10 to the 282nd power (million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion) that a life-support body such as Earth would exist anywhere in the universe. I think we can presume that we are unique.

Posted by K. Brian Kelley on 23 April 2007

For the same reason folks play the lottery or pull the lever on the slot machine: while the chances of "winning" are so small as to be practically non-existent, they always hope that they'll get "lucky."

Also, one other thing to remember is that all life may not be like what we're accustomed to on the Earth. the types of life we've found living in deep sea trenches near the vents has surprised scientists. The conditions are beyond what they thought could support life and the characteristics those species have in order to survive in those harsh conditions were eye-opening. A lot of folks see this as the "lottery ticket" in and of itself.